Migraine is a disease that causes long-term, intense, sometimes completely unbearable headaches. Migraine can completely deprive a person of sleep and rest, destroy his career and personal life. How can you overcome this ailment? What silent migraine treatment can modern and ancient medicine offer?
What is migraine, and how is it dangerous?There is an opinion that migraine is a disease of aristocrats, a kind of whim of people with an excess of free time. And we working people have no time to suffer from some kind of headache! However, only those who were not affected by this attack think so
Migraine symptoms
Indeed, many people call migraine just a headache, but this is fundamentally mistaken. A number of factors distinguish migraine from the usual malaise due to overwork or hypertension.
Localization of pain. This feature is reflected in the very name of the disease: migraine - distorted by French grammar ημικρανία ("hemicrania") - half of the head. One of the hallmarks of migraine is the localization of pain sensations that cover only one hemisphere or part of it. However, some interpret the Greek name in their own way - the head splits in two. And they are not far from the truth.The nature of the pain. Migraines are characterized by intense throbbing pain.
Many patients say that the sensations resemble an attack of acute toothache, but, of course, they have a different localization.The power of pain. A migraine attack literally knocks you down, depriving a person of the opportunity to engage in any useful activity. The condition can be accompanied by phobia and noise: sounds and bright light lead to increased pain.
How to treat migraine: remedies and methods of therapy
As with other types of headaches, the diagnosis of migraine is based largely on patient complaints and does not require additional examination. The basis of diagnosis is a thorough interview of the patient and verification of complaints with the symptoms indicated in the International Classifier of Headaches. Migraine therapy has become a great success, and there is even an article about it https://www.bbc.com/news/health-42154668
Sometimes, it is possible to identify objective symptoms that can be expressed in redness of the fingertips, such as from extreme cold (Raynaud's syndrome), sweaty palms, hyperexcitability of the facial muscles (Khvostek's symptom), but, in most cases, the diagnosis of migraine is possible only on the basis of patient complaints ... Because of this, according to WHO estimates, only 40% of patients receive a correct diagnosis.
Drug therapy
Medicines for migraines are used to eliminate the symptoms of the disease - to eliminate severe pain. For migraines with aura, the drug may be taken beforehand to avoid or relieve the attack. All drugs used for migraine can be divided into main groups:
Analgesics and anti-inflammatory drugs. Versatile pain relievers, most of which can be purchased over the counter without a prescription. These include non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen or diclofenac.Ergot preparations. The alkaloids in ergot can tone the blood vessels in the brain and suppress the production of serotonin, which causes migraine pain. In this regard, preparations based on ergot extracts are narrowly targeted anti-migraine agents, practically useless for tension headaches (HDN) and other types. They can be used both directly during an attack to stop it and for prophylactic purposes - in courses up to two weeks.
This group of drugs has a number of side effects and contraindications (for example, it is not prescribed for patients with ischemic heart disease) and is used only as directed by a doctor.Triptans (derivatives of 5-hydroxytryptamine). These drugs stop vasospasm by acting on the vascular wall, blocking the pain signal at the level of the trigeminal nerve receptors. Triptans are remarkable in that they relieve the symptoms of complicated migraine - phobia and noise, nausea and vomiting. They are also highly targeted anti-migraine agents.Is it possible to do without drugs? In this case, you should turn to t traditional medicine.
Non-drug therapy
Migraine has been known since time immemorial, and all these countless years, we have struggled with this disease. Although it has not been possible to defeat the disease, methods of physiotherapeutic influence have now been developed that reduce suffering to the possible minimum. Chinese traditional medicine has been particularly successful in this.
There are countless studies about the medicine of ancient China, but we will only touch on the basic principles of physiotherapy in the fight against migraines.
Physiotherapy sessions are carried by considering the diagnosed cause of the disease and according to different schemes. Thus, the doctor can provide assistance in the periods between attacks. The purpose of such a physiotherapeutic effect is to eliminate or (if complete elimination is not possible) minimize the influence of factors provoking an attack: stress, increased muscle tension in the neck-collar zone, vascular spasms. But if the patient comes with an acute attack, then he will be helped immediately - to relieve and relieve pain.
Since ancient times, traditional methods have also been known to be highly effective:
Acupressure, or acupressure. The method consists in the impact (directly with fingers or special stacks) on biologically active points, each of which causes a response that has been tested over the years in the body.Acupuncture or acupuncture. The impact on bioactive points is the finest sterile needles. As the needles are thin and sharp, the procedure is practically painless.Tuina massage. Traditional Chinese Tuina massage is a visiting card of the ancient medicine of the Middle Kingdom. The movements verified for centuries, combined with knowledge of the energy zones of the human body, can achieve remarkable results.
For migraine, massaging the neck-collar zone and shoulder girdle is especially effective.Hydrotherapy. For a long time, medicinal baths were considered in China as an effective method of treatment, combining the power of all four elements: water, fire (traditionally, procedures were carried out in thermal springs heated by an underground fire), air (hydrogen sulfide baths) and earth (mud wraps).t Even though traditional medicine in China is an alternative, it successfully uses the advances made. Electro-acupuncture is a very popular method in which the effect of acupuncture is enhanced by a small current. Electrophoresis with herbal formulations, specially selected by Chinese doctors, is no less popular.
